WHEN Bovey Tracey resident Denise Fothergill lost a treasured wedding ring and needed to find it she had to call in the experts.

Denise had been on Dartmoor on Sunday, scattering the ashes of her late husband Derrik. She had been wearing his wedding band for the sombre occasion when she noticed it had slipped off.

Denise said: ‘Derrik loved the moor so I was scattering his ashes at several locations we enjoyed visiting.

‘I’d been to the first place near Manaton and when I got to the second at Widecombe that’s when I noticed it was lost.’

After searching both places without success she contacted Newton Abbot and District Metal Detecting Club and explained her predicament.

The club offers a free detecting service and club member Alan Miller from Paignton was the man who came to the rescue.

Alan said: ‘When Denise contacted the club the call went out to all 30-plus members.

‘I was in the area later that week so arranged to meet Denise who took me to where she thought she had lost the ring.

‘She had had many happy picnics with her husband so that was where she had scattered some of his ashes.’

Detector at the ready, Alan began a thorough search of the area where some remnants of the ashes still lay. ‘Sadly we could find no trace and Denise was absolutely despondent,’ he said.

‘However, I didn’t give up hope and suggested we retrace her footsteps that day, so we went to where her car had been parked.

‘After using the detector for only a few minutes I discovered the ring right under where she had been parked up. It must have slipped off just as she got out of the car!’

Full story in the February 17 Bovey/Chudleigh edition of the Mid-Devon Advertiser